(A) Under the Kozaki Forest

There is a place called Kozaki in Katori County, Shimousa Province. It is on the Tone River, halfway between Namegawa and Sawara. Here is the famous thick forest called Kozaki Forest. In the distance, this forest can be seen from around Ichinomiya Shrine in Yaguchi.

This is under the Kozaki Forest,

　　　　　　　　　　so please steer, boatman......

Because of the song, anyone who goes up and down the Tone River* by boat and knows the song is bound to ask the boatman under this Kozaki Forest for the origin of the song.

steer（動）舵を取る

According to the boatman, when carrying the bell on board, it must always be put in a box and the top must be wrapped thickly with straw or rush mat. Otherwise, when the bell sees the surface of the water, it always sinks to the bottom of the water with the ship carrying it. Once upon a time, when a boatman was passing through the Tone River, unboxed and unmatted for some reason, carrying a bell naked on board, he came under this forest, and as soon as the bell saw the water, it suddenly made a strange noise and sank with the boat. Since then, boatmen have been careful not to pass over the sunken bell. Passengers also sing, "This is under the Kozaki Forest," to make boatmen watch out. If they pass through there, the boat is turned upside down and inevitably drawn into the swirling pool. When a boat sinks, the sunken bell makes various sounds from the bottom depending on how fast or slow the boat sinks. I've also heard the famous big Nanja Monja** leaves here sing a song all at once sadly. (Ringai Maeda)

rush（名）イグサ

swirling（形）渦巻く

(B) Chuko Temple

To the south of Lake Kizaki and to the north of Lake Aoki in Nakatsuna, Taira Village, Kita-Azum County, Shinano Province, is a small lake, Lake Nakatsuna, 300 meters from north to south, 500 meters from east to west, and about 2 kilometers in circumference.

Once upon a time, there was a large temple here called Chukou Temple, but it sank overnight in the summer of a year, and the remains became a lake, and at the same time Mt. Ariake rose on the north-south border of Azumi County. It is also called Shinano Fuji because its shape resembles Mt. Fuji. The main pillar of Chukou Temple's main hall still stands rotten about 120 feet from the lake's northwest corner. A large bell sinks about 180 feet south of the main pillar. From the top of the boat on a windless sunny day, it shines like gold.

Fortunately, only the fire bell that remained above the shore didn't sink. In times of drought, the bell is tied with a rope and combined with a big bell in the water, and rain falls immediately. Untie the fire bell and the rain will stop. On one occasion a local tried to pull down a rope from a large boat and pull up a sunken bell, but the rope always broke about three feet above the water. The bell soon returns to its place. He died of a fever not long after, so no one has tried to raise the bell since. (Suiran Kondo, in Kitahara, Omachi, Kita-Azumi County, Shinano Province)

(C)Bell of Daiho Temple

There used to be a temple called the Daiho Temple in Ishikawa Village, Minami Kawachi County, Kawachi Province. Villagers consulted and decided to dismantle the temple, and sold the temple bell to a foundry from Namba. When the foundry hired a man to dismantle the temple, an express messenger from his hometown informed him that the wife of the man he was employing had died, so he left the temple there and loaded the bell onto the ship. Soon after the boat left, the bell sank to the bottom of the sea. They say it still sinks there, but no one is trying to pull it up. (Matsusaburo Nakajima)

dismantle（動）取り壊す

(D) Kofuku-ji Pool

A stone monument stands at the southern foot of the ruins of Matsuyama Castle on the opposite bank of Hanadate Village, Senboku County, Akita Prefecture. It is inscribed with Kofuku-ji (Kofuku Temple) Daimyojin.

Once upon a time, there was a large cathedral called Kofuku Temple here. It was the family temple of the Abe clan, and there was also a pond called Rengedai in the precincts. It used to be a sacred spring. There was a sacred stone in the spring. It was even said that anyone who drank the water would be immortal. Xu Fu* of Qin came all the way to this hermit world, and it is said that there was his mound beside the pond, but in a big earthquake in June of one year, the ground of the temple caved into the Omono River in an instant, and the sunken remains are still a deep pool. Ships passing over this pool sometimes hear bells ringing from the bottom. If you hear that sound, the ship sinks naturally without the wind and the waves, and no one is saved. Therefore, they would set up a monument on the bank and venerate it as Kofuku-ji Daimyojin, and if a riverboat could pass this Kofuku-ji Pool safely, they would immediately hire an express messenger to inform their family about it. (Shoen Taguchi in Omagari, Senboku County, Akita Prefecture)

precinct（名）境内

Xu Fu（名）徐福

Qin（名）秦

(E)Kanegafuchi

Off the coast of Mitsumata-oki in Lake Kasumigaura*, Hitachi Province, on a rainy and windy day in the evening, a sad sound can be heard from the lakebed: "I miss Fuchu, Kokubun Temple**." This is because Benkei*** carried the bell of Kokubun Temple in Fuchu on his back and threw it here long ago, and the bell cries because it misses Fuchu. Today's Ishioka Town is the site of Fuchu. (Yorio Yoshihara in Niihari County, Hitachi Province)

lakebed（名）湖底

Note: When you hear the bell, you can see a beautiful woman at the bottom of the water. I heard later that Kokubun Temple (now Senju-in Temple) had a male bell and a female bell, and a great villain named Kumasaka Chohan**** carried the female bell on his shoulder and threw it into the sea off Mitsumata, so the female bell cried because she missed the male bell in Fuchu. This theory seems more complete. (Sho Yoshihara)

villain（名）悪人、悪党

Note: Once upon a time, a samurai brought two bells, one to Kokubun Temple, and when he took the other by boat across Lake Kasumigaura, the boat was wrecked, and the bell sank. So on a rainy night, if you cross by boat, you will hear the sound of a bell crying, "I miss Kokubun Temple." (Kiyoshi Takagi in Yatabe Village, Kashima County, Ibaraki Prefecture)

wreck（動）難破させる

(F) Sugawa Pond

About a mile south of Ueda in Shinano Province, there is Sugawa Pond, about two kilometers in circumference, on the top of Mt. Komaki. The water in this pond has never dried up in the past.

When Kokubun Temple was located in Kamikawa village, east of Ueda town, a twisted person stole the temple bell and carried it to Mt. Komaki to rest by Sugawa Pond, when the bell suddenly yelled,

"I miss Kokubun Temple, dong, dong."

and rolled into the pond. As soon as it rolled in, it transformed into a serpent. The water doesn't dry out because the serpent lives in this pond. Even if some people fall into this pond once in a while, they won't drown because the serpent will save them. Some say the bell transformed into a large carp instead of a snake. The only thing that seems true is that carp, more than four or five feet tall, are there. (Shokichi Takeuchi in Shiroshita Village, Chiisagata County, Shinano Province)

twisted（形）ひねくれた

(G) The Drum Slope

There is a Zen temple called Kofuku Temple in Kasiwama Village, Minami-Saitama County, near Okegawa on the Nakasendo Highway. In front of the gate stands a monument inscribed with the historic site of Taiko Zaka (Drum Slope). It is said to be the place where Musashibo Benkei buried a war drum, and you can still hear the sound of the drum when you walk on it.

There is a monastery called Omi-do in the precincts of the temple. It is said that Hidari Jingoro* built it with only one cutting tool along with the large cathedral on Mt. Tsukuba, but no matter how great his skill was, he couldn't finish it all at once, and even now it is customary to replace the roof of the hall one side at a time. Strange things happen when they're replaced all at once. It is commonly said that the god of the cooking stove appears. When Benkei was fascinated by the magnificent bell in the hall and took it to the great monastery of Mt. Tsukuba to strike it, the bell rang,

"I hate Kashiwama, I hate Kashiwama."

and he became angry and threw the bell to the ground. Even now, I hear that the bell remains half-buried in the earth. (Hekitensei in Kashiwama, Minami-Saitama)

(H) Kaneyori

There is a place called Kaneyori (Bell Aproach) in Takahama Village, Oi County, Wakasa Province. In a small village on the beach, not unusual, a bell sinks not far from here in the open sea. The whole area of this beach is white sand and faces the open sea, so you can see well to the bottom of the sea during a calm. Strangely enough, however, when anyone goes out to the beach to see the sunken bell, the squid ink instantly blinds the area. But how strange it is that if you somehow walk without thinking of seeing the bell, you can sometimes see it.

squid（名）イカ

In Takahama, Takahama Village, there is a tutelary shrine called Sakichi Shrine. It is a prefecture shrine and one of its treasures is a bell. It is a sister relationship to a bell that is submerged in the sea, and as proof that the one in the shrine is a sister, the bell always rings "sister dong" when villagers pray for rain. (Sadaji Harada in Kanazawa)

submerge（動）沈める、沈没させる

(I) The Bell in Daiji Temple

The bell of Daiji Temple in Kawashiri, Houtaku County, Higo Province, is a couple with the bell sinking in Misumi Strait at the tip of the Uto Peninsula. That's why the bells of Daiji Temple ring "Let's go to Seto" in longing for his sinking wife. (Sho Noda in Misumi, Higo)

strait（名）海峡、瀬戸

(J) Kanegafuchi Pool

There is a place called Kanegafuchi Pool on the Ukawa River below Saiko Temple, west of Kashiwazaki, Echigo Province. Once upon a time, when the temple bell rang every night, "Should I go to the sea or the river?" and the chief monk couldn't stand it, he said, "You can go to the sea or the river, whichever way you like," and the dragon ornament on the bell suddenly broke and rolled down into the river below. Where it sank is today's Kanegafuchi Pool. (Toshinori Nakanishi)

(K) The Nameless Tree

There is a place called Sanzenbo in Iida, Katouge Village, Minami-Kanbara County, Echigo Province. Once upon a time, there was a large cathedral here, but when Sanjo Saemon escaped, the pursuers set fire to the temple, saying that Saemon must be hiding there, and it was burnt. The temple's large bell also sank into the pond at that time.

There is the Nameless Tree by this pond. The sunken bell can never be seen from the outside, but you can see it better by climbing this tree. And when you cut the tree, it cries, "Let's go to Sanzenbo, let's go," so you can't sleep at night. It is also said that red blood flows out of the cut end of it.

Note: The story of 'Donari' in Nishi-Kanbara County also takes the same form as the above stories of 'Let's go to Sunsenbo' and 'Should I go to the sea or the river?' but it is omitted here because it appears in 'Echigo-ki' written by Sojinkan*. (Nakanishi Toshinori)

(A)

*Tone River: A river that flows north to east through the Kanto region and empties into the Pacific Ocean. The river is one of the largest in Japan and plays an important role in domestic economic activities as a source of water for the metropolitan area.

**Nanja Monja: Nickname given by local people to strange and magnificent plants, strange or rare trees, that grow in certain places.

(B)

(C)

(D)

*Xu Hu: Chinese alchemist and explorer. He was born in 255 BC in the state of Qi and disappeared at sea in 210 BC. Later, he was sent by Qin Shi Huang to the eastern seas twice to look for the elixir of life. Legend has it that he landed in Japan and acquired the elixir of life.

(E)

*Lake Kasumigaura: Japan's second-larges lake in the southeastern part of Ibaraki Prefecture. The wide water area where the water extends toward Tsuchiura and the water extends toward Ishioka meet is called Mitsumata-oki.

**Kokubun Temple: Provincial Temple. In 741, Emperor Shomu ordered each province in Japan to build temples to protect the nation through Buddhism. Fuchu means the place where the provincial government was located.

***Benkei: Musashibo Benkei. (? - 1189) A priest in the 12 century. He served for Minamoto no Yoshitsune, but when he came into conflict with his older brother, the Shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, Yoritomo, they fled together and died in battle in Hiraizumi. He is known to have been a monstrous force.

****Kumasaka Chohan: A legendary burglar believed to have lived during the Heian period. His performance first appeared in the Kowaka dance script, "Eboshi Ori," which was created in the Muromachi period. He, along with his men, attacked the residence where Minamoto no Yoshitsune was staying but was cut to death by him.

(F)

(G)

*Hidari Jingoro: A legendary sculptor said to have lived in the early Edo period. He carved sculptures in temples and shrines across the country and became famous as a main character in rakugo and theatrical performances. It is said that he also carved the "sleeping cat" that is engraved in the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, which is dedicated to the first general of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

(H)

(I)

(J)

(K)

*Sojinkan: Sojinkan Sugimura. (1872 - 1945) Journalist, essayist and haiku poet. He joined the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun and became the first newspaper company in Japan to establish a research section and publish a shortened edition of the newspaper. He also wrote many books with irony and humor that became popular. Echigo-ki (Records in Echigo) was published in 1911. Quoted below.

As for 'Donari' by Nishi-Kanbara, it is very eccentric. A long time ago, when Abe no Sadato was around, a villain named Kurotori no Hyoe was executed and beheaded. By the way, his head and torso were buried in different places, so much so that his torso was so weak that he sometimes yelled out, "I want to be with my head." This is called Donari (ringing torso), and it is one of the seven wonders. Its snarl sounds just like rain, which is strange. What will happen if it gets its wish? Does he say, "I missed you" and his torso clings to his head, or does he claw his head toward his torso? No, I'm getting a little lost.